VILLANOVA, Pa. – Seventeenth-century Italian artist Pietro da Cortona's Triumph of David – also known as The Presentation of David to King Saul after Slaying Goliath, and colloquially as David and Goliath – has hung in Villanova University's library for more than five decades since the 12x19' oil on canvas painting was gifted to the University. Only a handful of collections in the world contain works on canvas by this artist, and for an American collection to possess a painting of this magnitude attributed to Pietro da Cortona is even more uncommon. Like many older works, however, the painting has become discolored and degraded by over-paint and varnish from previous restoration campaigns.
To restore this important work and bring back the vibrant colors associated with Pietro's palette, Villanova University has commissioned conservators from The University of Delaware Art Conservation Department. Together with faculty and researchers from Villanova's Department of Chemistry, this interdisciplinary team will not only bring this work back to life, but will scientifically analyze the painting to trace its history and learn more about the artist's materials and methods. Making the project even more distinctive is the fact that the work will take place in a publically-accessible venue in Villanova's Falvey Memorial Library.
The University is committed to this important project benefitting the academic community, as well as the art history and conservation community. To that end, lectures, classes and seminar courses focusing on the technical art history and conservation of the work will be scheduled on site in the "Old Falvey" wing of the library during the course of the project. The University also plans to have public tours and viewing times for the campus and area communities to visit the site.
Conservator Kristin deGhetaldi from The University of Delaware is leading the restoration. Dr. Anthony Lagalante and Dr. Amanda Norbutus from Villanova's Department of Chemistry, along with graduate student Kristen Watts, will organize the conservation science research and analyze the materials and methods employed in the original artwork, as well as the restoration campaigns.
The painting is presently covered with several layers of discolored and degraded over-paint and varnish. These unoriginal materials were applied during previous restoration campaigns, but have aged poorly, obscuring the artist's beautiful colors. While the canvas is structurally sound, there are areas of lifting paint that will require consolidation and local humidification by the team. There are also scattered regions throughout the painting that were never filled and appropriately inpainted. Additionally, the current varnish is no longer serving its role as a protective and saturating surface coating.
The process of examining and restoring the painting will provide Villanova's Chemistry Department, and its students, with the opportunity to learn more about historic painting materials, such as the pigments and binding media used by this artist, as well as the analytical techniques used in conservation (i.e. Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, scanning electron microscopy, various imaging techniques, etc.).
In addition to Villanova's Chemistry Department, History and Art History faculty at the University will also work in collaboration with the team during the course of the two-year project. Mark Sullivan, PhD, director of the art history program, along with Timothy McCall, PhD, associate professor of Art History, who possesses a deep knowledge of Italian art and Old Master paintings, will provide expertise to the team as they examine the painting and the history of Pietro's work, methods and materials.
Painting History/Background: Pietro da Cortona's David and Goliath was hanging in Castle Nemi, outside of Rome, when it sustained damages as a result of the Battle of Nemi during World War II. In 1950, the painting was one of several works donated to Villanova University by the late Princess Eugenia Ruspoli of Italy – an American-born woman who married Italian nobleman Prince Enrico Ruspoli. Princess Ruspoli donated the works to the University as part of the "Friends of Villanova Library" program – an initiative developed by then-library director the Rev. Daniel P. Falvey, OSA, to raise funds for a new Library on campus. After completion of the new library building, it was named and rededicated in honor of Fr. Falvey in 1968. The Cortona painting still resides in Falvey Memorial Library's original wing, "Old Falvey," where it has hung since 1956.